Joyce answered the knocking at the door, smiling in relief when she saw
Willow and Cordelia standing there. "My daughter's always been a good
actress," she said without preamble. "But she says she's fine and feels
better, and it's obvious she doesn't. She's insisting on going to school
tomorrow. Maybe you two can convince her otherwise."

Willow bit her lip and Cordelia looked worried as they took off their coats
and handed them to Buffy's mother. She took them and hung them on the coat
rack, turning back to her daughter's friends. After a moment of tense
silence, Willow spoke up.

"We'll do what we can, Mrs. Summers," she said softly, "But you know Buffy..."

"She's as stubborn as someone who's been told to cut up your credit card,"
Cordelia supplied helpfully. At the looks she got, she continued, "What?
I'm not saying that's ever happened to *me*. It's just an expression!"

Joyce sighed. "Yes, I know. Thanks, girls. Go on up."

They mounted the stairs quietly, the feeling of trepidation taking over.
Shoving Buffy's door open after a quick knock, Willow and Cordelia stepped
inside. Buffy lay curled up in a ball, underneath her covers, and their eyes
widened as they watched her stir from sleep.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Willow started. "Your mom didn't tell us you were
sleeping."

Buffy gave a great cat yawn and looked at them with a little smile, gesturing
for them to sit on the bed. "It's okay. I've sort of been wandering in and
out. I'm still tired from... I'm still tired."

Cordelia tucked the hair that was falling in her eyes behind her ears,
looking at Buffy with an unusual Cordelia expression: care. "How are you?"
she asked cautiously.

Buffy let out a strained laugh. "Fine. Why do I feel like I'm going to be
asked that for the rest of my life?"

"Well," Willow said slowly, "If you look like you do now with everyone, you
might be right. You don't look fine, not at all. What can we do?"

Buffy's eyes took on a dangerous glint. "Nothing," she snapped. "Nothing.
No one can do anything at all. Do you understand? That's why I just want to
get past it. Because *nothing* can be done for me. I don't know why you all
are so fucking concerned all of the sudden!" Her fingers clawed viciously at
her bedspread.

Cordelia maintained a steady, even expression, but it was plain that Willow
was holding back tears. "I'm sorry..."

Buffy twirled some hair around her finger and yanked on it a little bit. She
sighed. "Don't be sorry, Willow," she said wearily. "I shouldn't have blown
up over nothing. But can't you try to... I don't know."

Cordelia leaned forward. "Buffy. If you didn't want support, if you wanted
to act like it had never happened, why did you tell all of us? Hmm?"

Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Thoughtfully, she
looked up at the ceiling and then back at Cordelia. "It happened fast.
First thing I knew, Giles was picking me up and he asked me what happened.
Then you came. I thought you were my friend, Cordy."

Cordelia looked down at the Slayer's hands; They were trembling. "I am," she
said carefully, "But I just know what it's like to... Be helpless. It might
not be in the exact way, but everyone else does too. And I know that you
need something right now, something that we can't give you unless you let us.
If you shut everyone out, you're going to feel this way forever."

"I don't shut out Angel," Buffy mumbled under her breath.

Willow's eyes lightened. "That's... something! Right?" She looked
pleadingly at Cordelia, who gave a short nod. "We're just here for you,
Buffy, if you ever do decide that you need us."

Buffy let out a shaky breath. "I'll keep that in mind."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles rammed his fist into the younger man's stomach as Angel held him up.
Willy lurched forward, gasping, and let his head drop down to his chest.
"Man," he muttered, huffing, "I thought you were the good guys."

"We are," Giles growled, sending another rousing jab into Willy's midsection.
"Which is why we're here. We'd appreciate any information you could give
us." His eyes glittered angrily and he balled up his hand into a fist to hit
Willy again, but Angel laid his hand on Giles's shoulder, stilling him.

"Giles, he's human," he said quietly, ignoring the Watcher's glare. "And not
the one you're angry at."

Xander looked uneasily at the door; It was locked, but who knew who would try
to break in there? Hearing Angel's voice, his head lifted and his eyes
snapped viciously. "This coming from someone who says he loves her?"

Angel flinched and then sent a withering look to the boy. "Don't you dare,
Xander. Not now. If Giles puts him in a coma, we have no hope of getting
the information we want. I'm as prepared as you are to do some damage-- even
more prepared. So don't give me your lectures on how much I do or don't love
Buffy." He kept his words low, dangerous, and Xander closed his mouth with
an audible click.

Willy lifted his head, exhausted. "Yeah, what Angel said. Angel's my man,
aren't ya?"

The men surrounding him spoke in unison. "Shut up, Willy."

Giles's fingers slid through the bartender's hair and he yanked his head back
up as it drooped down. "We could make you quiet if you like," he offered,
almost hopefully.

Willy's eyes widened.

"No, ah, I mean," he stuttered, looking for the right words. "Okay, man, let
go of the hair and I'll tell everything I know."

Giles studied him for a moment and then released his grasp. Willy righted
himself, coughing, and then gestured to a small booth near the back of the
bar. The group followed him to it and sat uncomfortably around him, trapping
him in, should he decide to try to escape. He eyed each of them warily and
then finally nodded.

"You guys know I'm always happy to help the noble efforts of my favorite bad
guy fighting gang," he started, "So why you gotta come in here and start
beating me up? I didn't even refuse you information yet."

The men stared at him. "More effective that way," Oz supplied.

Willy gave a short nod and then glanced around the table. "So, I guess you
guys are workin' on what I heard last night."

Angel arched his eyebrows. "Which was?"

"Some guys took the girl in an alley not far from here, I'm sure you know
about that, fighting evil like you guys do. They came in, after, around
midnight or so, crowin' bout their success. I thought it sounded sort of
fishy, but that's me. So I poured them a coupla drinks, even though it was
obvious they were already loaded-- because who am I to judge, and anyway,
they might not have been legally drunk, which is when I gotta stop-- and they
started telling everyone what happened."

Giles jolted in his chair. "They told *vampires* about her?" he asked
hoarsely.

Willy glanced at him. "Hey, I don't get on the case about your clientele.
Or wouldn't, if you had some other than these kids."

Angel could feel the blood starting to boil underneath his skin; acid fire.
He fought to keep his human visage and to stay in control of his soul.

Xander was trembling with something that he couldn't describe-- Fear, fury,
hatred, all rolled into one confusing mass of emotions. "You know who Buffy
is, who we all are, and you let the guys go on talking about what those
fucking assholes did to her?!" He slammed his hand down against the table.

Willy jumped in his seat, noticing the increase of hostility towards him.
Suddenly his eyes became huge, and he locked them on Xander's face. "It was
the Slayer? The Slayer it happened to? You guys are gonna kick the shit out
of me, aren't you?"

"I can tell you we're thinking about it," Angel muttered.

"Listen, guys, they didn't name names. All they really said was that she was
little and blond, and weaker than a kitten." His lip turned up in a sneer,
thinking back. "And I did throw them out. No matter what anybody's gonna
say about me, I won't stand for that kind of talk, that kind of bragging in
this bar. I was an inch away from callin' the cops." After a second, he
deflated. "Except, you know, all the vamps..."

"So what else do you know?" Oz spoke up with.

Willy's eyebrows knitted together. "What else?"

He nodded, tipping his head back and smelling the air. "There's something...
I know there is, I can feel it."

Angel nodded. "I can to. Holding out on us, Willy? Because you know, I
just might be able to find it in my soul to hurt you really badly, which
might make me feel really good, if you don't start talking soon."

Willy started to shake his head and the stopped, nodding slowly. "Yeah...
They travel. I don't remember what kind of jobs they have, maybe
construction workers or something-- that's what they looked like, at least--
but they said that they don't come through town much. Hardly at all, but
they do come. If that helps any."

Giles let out a long breath, which he didn't know he had been holding. He
lifted himself out of the seat and darted his eyes around. "Yes, I do think
it does," he muttered grudgingly. The other men followed his lead and also
rose from their seats. Xander stretched and Oz looked at the clock as Angel
continued to stare at the sleazy bartender. Giles continued, "I'd think it'd
be best if you weren't to tell anyone about what you learned tonight," he
said menacingly. Willy heard the unspoken threat and quickly nodded his
compliance.

They all started for the door. Willy looked after them uneasily. "Uh. Will
you guys be back?"

Angel lifted his hand in a careless wave as he disappeared out the door after
Oz and Giles. Xander, following quickly, turned to face Willy for a second.
He grinned slowly, a smile of dark and angry promises. "I think that means
yes."